Minnesota Nice Hate Speech

It was a peaceful evening beginning to wind down for me I had just come home from a long day at work, had fired up the grill and was looking forward to a cold Harps Lager and a hot grill. I was changing into something more comfortable in my bedroom when I got a call from one of my part-time drivers (I own a courier and delivery company that had 8 drivers on the road that day...) asking me if all "my guys" were accounted for, and he said something that sounded surreal to me... I thought at first it was some sort of cruel way of my driver "messing with me" , but I turned on the TV and saw one of the most surreal, sad things I have ever seen; the 35w bridge I had driven over hundreds of times in my life to cross the Mississippi River that divides the near North side of Minneapolis with the Downtown area had literally collapsed into a part of the river that I wouldn't even dare step into with full body armor! Luckily all of my drivers were done and most home for the day, so that was a load off my chest, but as I prayed for those victims and the countless who I knew were suffering they turned out to not be the only victims that from day. I had this nagging thought in the corner of my mind... I was really, REALLY hoping and praying this wouldn't turn "political" and nasty, simply out of respect for the victims and their families, and the hope that maybe, just maybe Minnesota was better... nicer... nope, we couldn't rise above, it took less than a few days before it got ugly...

I found myself praying that Minnesotans could resist that ugly and ignoble phenomenon that seems to follow anything that goes wrong these days; blaming the other "team" for catastrophe's and the forces of nature. I remember people blaming the forces of nature on George Bush in hurricane Katrina, I remember people blaming "climate change" on their political opponents, and wonder if any of these people remember that they are in company with the ignorant cultures of the past that blamed the forces of nature on other human beings as well and burned them at the stake, sacrificed their children to volcano's, or threw the unfortunate stranger into bogs to die.

But, of course these days where hysteria, tantrum, and blind rage seem to determine who ones political foes and allies are, 3 Minnesotans are at the forefront in creating another victim, and taking "hate speech" to a disgusting level. Before the rescue effort had even concluded Nick Coleman in The Pioneer Press said that Governor Tim Pawlenty should be impeached and held accouintable for the deaths of the victims of this bridge collapse. Alice Hausman and Elwin Tinklenberg representing the Minnesota DFL went on WCCO radio and basically inferred the same thing, but of course also blamed all Republicans based on budget cuts that never actually occurred. These are just creepy people giving in to their most vile partisan instincts. I can think of very few forms of speech that can be more hateful than falsely accusing someone of murder in public! How dare you guys do this! You owe Tim Pawlwnty and the Minnesota Republicans a public apology.

The NTSB findings are conclusive: The collapse of the bridge was due to a design flaw 40 years ago. It was in essence a mathematical mistake made in 1967 that caused some supports to wear down prematurely. But, I'm sure Nick, Alice, and Elwin will get away with it since journalism is no longer about telling the truth, or finding facts, now days the press has a pre determined template in Minnesota: Democrats are good, Republicans are bad, and the truth must fit into that template or its not the "truth". But, beyond all politics, and beyond the publicity game, I think on a human level, there are 3 "folks" who owe some other "folks" an aplogy.